RESUMO
The study included 61 patients aged 18-70 years, [13 males, and 48 females], having solitary thyroid nodule. After having clinical examination, each patient was subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] examination, and cell block preparation. For all cases, histopathological examination of the corresponding surgical samples, were also performed. FNAC preoperative diagnoses showed 25 cases with benign follicular nodules, 18 with follicular neoplasm, 1 Hurthle cell neoplasm, 4 suspicious for papillary thyroid carcinoma, 10 papillary thyroid carcinomas, 2 medullary carcinomas, and 1 anaplastic carcinoma. The number of true positive cases was 32, true negative 24, false positive 4, and one false negative result. Non-neoplastic to neoplastic lesions showed sensitivity 96.7%, specificity 85.7%, positive predictive value 88.8%, negative predictive value 96% and diagnostic accuracy 91.8%. The incidence of malignancy based on histopathologic diagnosis was 37.7%. Cell blocks were contributory in 35 cases [57.1%], and non-contributary in 26 cases [42.6%]. All cases of papillary carcinoma diagnosed by FNAC were proved to be papillary carcinoma on histopathological examination. In conclusion: FNAC is a simple, cost effective, and easy to perform procedure for the diagnosis of thyroid nodule. It is a highly sensitive with high accuracy rate, especially in diagnosing malignancy. Therefore, it is recommended as a first line investigation for the diagnosis of solitary thyroid nodule, to avoid unnecessary thyroidectomy